Reiver Sanmartin received a standing ovation as he walked off the mound after his Major League debut Monday, but it was the Cincinnati Reds’ offense that tried to set off all the remaining fireworks at Great American Ball Park.
The top five batters in the Reds’ lineup combined for 12 hits, 12 runs, 12 RBI, five homers and three doubles.
"That’s a great way to end a homestand, honestly, in front of the fans and give them the team who we actually are," Jonathan India said after the Reds' 13-1 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates, a makeup game from a rainout last week. "That’s our team. It’s a scary team."
The offense was a major reason why the Reds had a chance to reach the postseason this year and it turned into a greatest hits album in their home finale. Joey Votto homered twice, including a 466-foot blast that was the longest by a Reds batter this season. Nick Castellanos homered for the fourth consecutive game. India reached base four times and scored four runs.
It was just too late for it to factor into the postseason race.
The Reds avoided being mathematically eliminated from the postseason Monday. They’re 5½ games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the final wild-card spot with five games left in the regular season. They could force a Game 163 tiebreaker if they win all their remaining games and the Cardinals, on a franchise-record 16-game winning streak, lose all six of their games this week.
"We’re still thinking about pulling off a miracle," Votto said. "Until that gets taken away from us, we still have our eyes on competing in the playoffs.”
Not quite the odds of winning the Powerball and being hit by lightning on the same day, but not much better, either.
If there is a consolation prize, the Reds clinched a winning season with their 82nd victory. It’s the first time they’ve finished back-to-back seasons with a winning record since 2012-13, which includes last year’s 31-29 record in a 60-game season. It’s the franchise’s fifth winning season since 2001, though they haven’t won a playoff series since 1995.
"It's tough to see anything when your only goal is daily to win a game, but the only overall game is to make the postseason," Reds manager David Bell said. "Maybe when it's all said and done, we can really evaluate exactly where we finished. We're focused on continuing to play as well as we can and see where we end up."
In the fourth inning, Votto blasted a 466-foot two-run homer to the second-to-last row in the right-field seats. It was Votto’s longest homer since Statcast began collecting data in 2015 and the second-longest by a Reds batter in the last seven seasons.
“I hit longer balls when I was younger," said Votto after his 18th career multi-homer game, "when I was choking down on the bat and taking more chances for sure. I remember hitting the 'N' in between the smokestacks in the word Cincinnati. As I rounded first base, I did a (field goal hand signal) ‘It’s good!’ That was during the era when you didn’t do stuff like that.
"The next day, Dick Pole the pitching coach, said, ‘I think you’ve got a chance to be a good ballplayer, but if you ever pull that ... again, I am going to lose a lot of respect for you.’ At that time, I cared a lot about that. I still do, don’t get me wrong. But I remember putting it through the smokestacks."
Three pitches after Votto’s mammoth blast, Eugenio Suárez drilled a solo homer to center field for an eight-run lead. Suárez, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, has raised his batting average 22 points this month with six homers and six doubles in his last 56 at-bats.
Castellanos added a three-run homer in the sixth inning to center field. It’s the first time in his career he’s homered in four consecutive games.
The Reds have scored at least 10 runs in 20 games this season, tying the single-season club record (1903 team and 1975 Big Red Machine). Seven of those games happened in Wade Miley’s starts, who always joked that he never lost when he had 10 runs of support. Miley was scheduled to pitch Monday before he was shut down with a neck strain.
"It's really rewarding to watch our hitters just because they've worked so hard," Bell said. "When you have days where you start scoring some runs, you want to enjoy that because we know how tough it is and it doesn't always go that way. They were certainly rewarded today."
Sanmartin allowed five hits and one walk across 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run. With a fastball that sat below 90 mph, the low arm slot lefty overpowered hitters with the sweeping action on his pitches, striking out five.
"I was pretty emotional all day, really," Sanmartin said through team interpreter Jorge Merlos. "I just wanted to go out there and prove to everybody that I’m able to pitch at this level."
Sanmartin allowed only two batters to reach base in his first five innings before showing signs of fatigue. He exited with the bases loaded in the sixth inning. Reds infielders surrounded congratulated him on a strong debut. The crowd, which was announced at 11,055, responded with a standing ovation and Sanmartin removed his cap to salute the fans.
Art Warren replaced Sanmartin on the mound and ended the inning with a strikeout.
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